


Transcendance (ENG VERSION)

by ChoiceorDestiny



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Blood and Violence, Bloodplay, Chaos, Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane, Dom/sub, Eventual Sex, Explicit Language, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Smut, Gunplay, Jealousy, Knifeplay, Love/Hate, Masochism, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Mobsters, Movie: The Dark Knight (2008), Obsession, Obsessive Behavior, Possessive Behavior, Post-Movie: The Dark Knight (2008), Romance, Sadism, Violent Sex, becauseitsthejokerduh, butnotbetweenthemaincharacters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-28 18:55:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30144072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChoiceorDestiny/pseuds/ChoiceorDestiny
Summary: Ada Britan is a French-American woman who’s just moved to her father’s hometown: US capital of crime, Gotham. That, twenty two months after the arrest of the famous and obnoxious Joker, who is now a prisonner of Arkham Asylum. Batman, Gotham’s vigilante, is missing since Harvey Dent’s murder - of which he’s been accused. But quickly, status quo is dismissed and anarchy takes place, chaos spreads and the self-proclaimed king of Gotham came back on the underworld. And as we all know, all kings need a queen by their side to rule.[This is the English version of my eponymous fanfiction, translated by my best friend who studies and works in translation. English is, neither for her nor for me, our mother tongue so there could be mistakes and approximations. Do not hesitate to send me your comments on this subject.]
Relationships: Joker (DCU)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 8





	1. Starting anew

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Transcendance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/30086586) by [ChoiceorDestiny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChoiceorDestiny/pseuds/ChoiceorDestiny). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gotham has a new inhabitant! What does the city have in store for her? Or rather, what does she have in store for the city?

Ada Britan was exhausted from her 11 hour-flight. She sighed as she left Gotham Airport, her suitcase rolling next and her laptop case resting on her chest. It was the only personal belongings the 25-year-old allowed herself to bring when she’d decided to leave her old life behind following the brutal death of her parents in a car crash in order to start a new life elsewhere.

Elsewhere happened to be Gotham, her father’s hometown. He was an upper-class American from a good family with a lot of money and an important network. For the first time, with her brownish green eyes, Ada was looking at the corrupted city of crime, something her father has always refused because he wanted to protect her from this criminal atmosphere. Nevertheless, he used to travel back and forth between Aix-en-Provence in France, her mother’s hometown where they lived together until the accident, and Gotham for his work as an international law solicitor. He has, indeed, prestigious clients all around the south of France as well as the infamous elite of Gotham and its surroundings.

Despite his frequent travels, he never talked of what happened when he came back to his place of birth. He would only declare that business went well. The reason is simple: his parents had disowned him due to him marrying Ada’s mother. They considered that she was from a lower social class and thus not a possible spouse for their son. As conservative middle-class people, from a rich family, descendants of early settlers, they couldn’t picture themselves with a working-class daughter-in-law, regardless the fact she was a famous painter. No need to say that the fruit of their loins has never met her American grand-parents and now that she was living in the same city, she still has absolutely no intentions of meeting them. Ada had no idea if they even have heard of their son passing, three months earlier. If it wasn’t the case, they wouldn’t learn it from her.

As soon as she walked out of the airport, she looked for a taxi. A driver was waiting for clients, smoking his cigarette outside of the car. In fluent English – one of the benefits of having parents of different nationalities – she asked if he could drive her where she needed to go. The man, a fat African American, accepted the fare before stubbing out his cigarette, taking her only luggage to put it in the trunk as she sat down in the yellow vehicle. When the driver took place at the wheel, he asked the short-haired brunette where she wanted to go. She took out a note from the pocket of her distressed denim and read him the address written on it. He started the engine and hit the road.

Along the fare, the taxi driver and the young woman started a polite conversation, he wanted to know where Ada came from because he couldn’t tell by her slight accent and she asked about what was up in Gotham lately. He recommended a few places that could be interesting to visit but he also advised her about where she shouldn’t hang out. A whole district fit in the category. A kind of town within the town ruled by criminals and poverty: East End. Luckily, it wasn’t their destination. In fact, she had an appointment with the estate agency which had found her an appartement in the heart of Old Gotham near Cathedral Square. The estate agent in charge of her case still had to give her the key to her new place.

When they reached the agency, she asked the driver to wait a few minutes so she could get her keys and get done with the last formalities before finally moving in. Fifteen minutes later, the brunette got out of the agency with her keys, she sat back in the taxi and he drove her to her new place. When she finally arrived at her final destination, she found herself in front of an old red brick six-floor-building, the taxi driver asked for a hundred dollars that she gave him without batting an eye. Indeed, Ada was rich. She wasn’t born rich, unlike her father, but she has always belonged to the upper-middle-class and with her parents passing she had inherited all of their belongings – that she had sold by now- as well as millions of euros of life insurance. It was way enough money to live the rest of her existence unworried.

It wasn’t that Ada was planning on living only thanks to this money but as a second year PhD student in sociology, as well as the owner of a master’s degree and a degree, she knew that her chances of finding a job other than waitress at a restaurant were very low. At least, that was the case in France. She even had no idea if her degrees were of any values in the US. It was probably the case but Ada hasn’t made any research in the matter as she couldn’t wait to leave her hometown and flee from her memories – good or bad.

Finally, Ada and the taxi driver – also known as Ben – parted. The young woman pushed the heavy front door and came in the old building. Then she walked up the three floors without any difficulties even with her luggage in hand before she stopped in front of the door of her new apartment. She unlocked the three locks and came in to find a large open space with gigantic windows that let the sweet autumn light fill the empty room. The view had nothing special to offer, it was a wall of another building but fortunately it was far enough to let the light fill the space that would soon be hers.  
Once the door closed and her luggage on the floor, she took time to walk around the room which happened to be way cosier than the pictures given by the estate agency. When she entered the first bedroom, the larger one, she found a mattress still wrapped in its cover on the floor. She had ordered it earlier and the agency had made sure she had it before she arrived in Gotham. Exhausted, Ada decided to go to bed immediately, she was too tired to eat anything. She was the type of person who couldn’t sleep in flight, so she hadn’t slept a minute on the plane. Not without difficulties due to her extreme level of exhaustion, the young woman took the mattress out of its cover before crashing on it.

She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the makeshift bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfic, so please indulge me, especially since I am far from an expert in the Batman universe. I'm just a lover of the Nolan movies and fascinated with HL's Joker. Him and the other characters besides my OC might turn out to be OOC around the edges, but I'll try to stay as close as possible to how they are played and written in The Dark Knight. In addition, this film and the previous one are canonical, I am not sure concerning the third one however because I do not know on what period of time this fanfic will take place. * shrug * And, of course, I don't own any character other than my OC and not the Batman universe either.
> 
> In addition, the rating may change depending on the turn that the story will take (because yes, it is almost written by itself haha).
> 
> Do not hesitate to leave me comments and kudos, they feed me!
> 
> XOXO  
> Alie - ChoiceorDestiny


	2. Exploration and explosion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ada discovers her neighborhood and learns an explosive news!

Ada struggled to open her puffy eyes after a long and deep sleep. It’s been a month since she’s moved in. She yawned and stretched but decided to spend a few more minutes in bed. Finally, after she’s checked social networks on her phone, answering friends who’d tried to contact her she found that she was ready to start her day. Mechanically she left the newly furnished and decorated bedroom for the kitchen where she made coffee. She drank it sitting in her little green sofa, watching the news on Gotham City News - also called GCN. For a deeply corrupted city, Gotham seemed pretty calm. But only in appearance, Ada thought as the police sirens wailed outside before vanishing in the distance. The young woman was starting to get use to this sound on and on. All day and all night, because Gotham City never slept. And neither did the gangsters apparently.

Once she was up to date with what was going on in town, she decided to go out for a walk and take advantage of this beautiful and sunny day, as it was still early – 8 a.m. Speaking of the weather, since she moved in Gotham, she found out it was rather overcast most of the time. It seemed like there was a permanent cloudy weather in town in addition to the polluted air. As if the criminal gangrene eating the lower cast of the city was showing in the sky. Ada found it poetic as she’d always been kinda weird in the way she found beauty where other people see none.

She put on warm cloths to fight the autumn weather. She left the apartment and locked the door twice – you’re never too safe in this town, even in the safest neighbourhood. Then she wandered to continue her exploration of the neighbourhood, she’d already walked the streets a few times in the past month. Around 10, her stomach growled and she started looking for a coffee shop. Ada couldn’t eat if she’d just woke up but later in the morning she could got easily hungry. She stopped and bought a pastries in Bakery & Barney and then went to Cathedral Square where she ate her breakfast, sitting on the stairs of Gotham main cathedral. Then, in pure curiosity she went inside for the first time.

Her vision took a moment to adjust to the darkness of the sacred place, Ada went to the middle of the gothic building, looking without really seeing, trying to ignore the believers. Actually, devotion to a god she didn’t believe existed made her uncomfortable. Finally, after more than half an hour of wandering, Ada left the cathedral slowly and was blinded by daylight for a second. She decided it was time to come home and do some research for the potential pursuit of her studies but also on the equivalence of her degrees she’d worked so hard to acquire. She wasn’t made to stay idle and she couldn’t picture herself living the rest of her life like this: full of endless wandering. No matter how pleasant it was.

When she got home, she walked straight to her desk where her laptop was. She turned it on and took place on her desk chair. Then she began doing some specific research. She found out quite rapidly that there was in fact a university in Gotham, an ancient institution well-known throughout the US. And like all university in the US it was quite expensive too. On the website, Ada quickly found what she was looking for: there was a sociology department with different programs. They immediately caught her attention, there was so many choices possible it made her dizzy. Even though she had always been a fast learner, she had never been excited by school before going to uni. There, she had studied several interesting subjects. The path of sociology had been an obvious choice to her, she’d been gifted with enhanced observation and analysis of human behaviours in society. At first, her parents had been puzzled by her choice, but they supported her anyway - as they always did. Ada never took time to explain why she made that choice and they never asked any questions. She always liked the way they never judged her and how they trusted her no matter what.

To turn down any sad memories, the brunette turned off her laptop one hour only after she’d turned it on not without writing down the phone number of the person in charge of what they called “le département des sciences humaines” [human and social sciences department] in France. It was almost noon so she decided she would call the headmistress later in the afternoon. Before that she cooked and had lunch. Then, as time went by too slowly in her opinion she went back to her desk and took a sketch pad from one of the drawers. Many pages were already darkened with rough sketches, she browsed through the pages until she found a blank one. She began drawing the Cathedral Square from memory. When it was finally 2pm, she took her phone and dialled the number of a certain Evelyn Johnson. It took her three ringtones to answer.

— Hello?  
— Good afternoon, Mrs. Am I talking to Mrs Johnson? Ada asked more confident than she thought she actually was, she’s never like phone calls.  
— Exactly. Why are you calling me?  
— My name’s Ada Britan, I just moved to Gotham, I’m from France and I’m quite interested by your department. I’d like to enrol at Gotham University. I’m calling because I need more information.  
— Oh really? I’ll be pleased to welcome you in Gotham university. I can give you an appointment this week, what do you think of Thursday… 3pm, in my office so you can tell me more about yourself in person.  
— Seems right to me, obviously Ada’s timetable was quite empty for now.  
— Do you need explanation to find my office? Mrs. Johnson asked. It’s in Building E, East Aisle.  
— No thank you, I’ll be just fine. I found a map on the university website.  
— If that’s so, see you on Thursday, miss. Evelyn said before hanging up.

That was one thing off her list.

Ada spent the rest of the afternoon drawing, on and on again, she was never satisfied with how her sketches looked, which was the usual to her. Later in the evening she ordered food because she didn’t want to cook. While she was waiting for the delivery guy she watched the news on TV. She quickly understood that something had occurred. The logo "Breaking News" was on the top right of the screen and written in bold capital letters as red as blood. Even before the journalist started talking, she read what was written in the banner: « Joker escaped ». Stunned, Ada needed a few minutes to go back to reality and finally listen to what the reporter was saying on the matter.

— …The first estimation is a dozen deaths and thirty injured. The Joker escaped Arkham Asylum thanks to a riot: the prisoners as well as a group of his minions neutralised the guards. An explosion destroyed the asylum after the clown and twenty other patients had vanished. For now, we have no idea who has escaped - apart from the Joker. Gotham PD has informed us that we must consider them as armed and dangerous. Police commissioner Gordon has arrived an hour ago and is asking all Gotham citizens to stay safe at home. A police source informed us a curfew is likely to be declared tonight and for an indetermined period of time…

Ada turned off the TV sound and dove into her thoughts. Of course, she had heard about the Joker. Her father might have forbidden her to come to Gotham when he was still alive and might even have refused to talk about it but nothing had prevented her from subscribing to Gotham Times’ newsletter to know more about the forbidden city. When the Joker made his apparition on the news and made the headlines, she found him fascinating. He was a striking man. The scars, the clown make-up was just a small part of what made him unique. He was smart, very smart, sadistic and merciless. He had no moral and seemed erratic in his actions, but only in appearance.

Nonetheless, everything was under control, he was always ahead of Batman and GCPD. He wasn’t an ordinary criminal. He prospered in anarchy and chaos, unlike other Gotham gangsters who preferred order – their order – and put money above all things, forgetting that dollars only bring power in appearance. True power, as Ada knew it well for studying it at university, was in the fear you could bring to others. Power remained in unpredictability, charisma and fascination. The Joker embodied the notion of power.

She jumped when her phone rang. It was the delivery guy, he was waiting in front of the building. She told him she would be there in a minute. She spent the rest of the evening watching the news, listening to reporters who knew nothing and observing pictures of Joker broadcasted on live. As if nobody knew what he looks like here in Gotham. She fed from his image so much that his face got printed in her mind. That night, he was there in her dreams.

They were beautiful and terrible dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, still no Joker on the horizon! At least he's mentioned! Don't get impatient, he's coming soon, faster than you might think. ;)
> 
> I hope your reading is enjoyable. 
> 
> Do not hesitate to leave me comments and kudos, they feed me!
> 
> (It's weird for me to read my text in English, it seems to me much poorer than in French. But this is probably explained by the fact that French takes detours to say things, while English is more direct. I, who likes detours when I write, I'm a little puzzled haha.)
> 
> XOXO  
> Alie - ChoiceorDestiny


	3. Clown and king

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ada takes her future in hand and makes an unexpected encounter.

Thursday came around without warning but Ada was all set for her interview with Evelyn Johnson. She wasn’t feeling nervous at all. She simply hoped she wouldn’t get lost on Gotham University campus, to avoid that, before leaving her apartment and taking a cab, she had printed a map. Everything should go well. The young woman watched the city went by in front of her as she left Downtown to Midtown. She was impressed by the homogeneity of the city which never lost its gothic style mixed with several modern elements: futuristic tower or a Starbucks to name a few. The taxi driver left Ada at the campus west entrance and she immediately took her map out of her bag pack. She looked at it for a moment and when she was sure of the direction she had to follow, she entered the maze of old buildings, crossing path with hundreds of students on her way.

Finally, she arrived at a big building which was described as Building E on the map, the one she was looking for. She entered and walked towards the east aisle as Evelyn Johnson has explained on the phone. Ada examined each door, looking for the name of the person she was looking for until she found the door of her office. She knocked. She was quickly invited to come in and that’s what she did. There, she found herself in a room of average size, in front of each walls were shelves covered with mail baskets and other binders. Many documents were resting on a huge desk that filled the majority of the space. A thin stream of light was coming in from the unique window. A fifty-something strict-looking woman was sitting behind the desk, her hard face turned into a smile on her aging face when she addressed Ada.

— You must be Ada, don’t be shy, sit down. I’m pleased to meet you. We don’t get to welcome foreigners in the university on a daily basis!

Ada knew when to be obedient and now was the perfect time so she sat down and smiled back before answering:

— Pleased to meet you too, Mrs Johnson. To be completely honest, I’m not a true foreigner: I have a dual citizenship. I’d like to thank you for the time you’re giving me, especially in a short notice like that. I only heard positive things about this university, great minds were trained here and I hope to become one of them if you give me a chance.

Of course, she was exaggerating a tiny bit but if she wanted to be accepted in the sociology department even though the semester had already started, she had to put a little sugar on her butter.

— Oh really? I’m glad to hear that the institution has a good reputation among great minds of tomorrow. You told me on the phone that you wanted more pieces of information about the department and the associated cursus, isn’t it?  
— Exactly, let me explain the situation…

And Ada explained back and forth, up and down. She didn’t forget any details and put all her heart for human sciences, such as sociology, in her speech. She explained that she wanted to get equivalence for her French degrees but also follow and finish her university career here in Gotham. Evelyn Johnson gave her documentation that she put in her bag pack and she helped her as much as she could, assuring that even if the semester has already started, she could totally climb on the bandwagon. In fact, she has only missed three weeks of class. After a 40-minute-interview, the young woman thanked her elder once again for her time and swore to read all the documents that she has given her before taking any decisions on her future. Then she left Evelyn Johnson’s office with a feeling of completion.

Then, the brunette tried to find her way back outside the maze that the Gotham campus was but unfortunately, she had to face the fact that even with her map she was lost. With a shrug to accept this realisation, Ada walked straight ahead, she thought it was the best mean to find her way out. And it actually worked. She soon ended in a large street, related to many smaller streets, and decided to go on her exploration in this neighbourhood she has never seen before. She would call a taxi later to go back home. She followed the first street she saw. For ten minutes she navigated herself from dead-ends to never-ending alleys, looking carefully at the unique architecture of Gotham. She learned after some researches that it was all thanks to an architect living in the area in the 19th century: Cyrus Pinkney. According to an article Ada has read, he had been hired by Judge Solomon Wayne, ancestor of the scandalous Bruce Wayne, to create the Gotham Style. Gotham city was as culturally and historically rich as Aix en Provence where Ada grew up, making it a good adversary – from Ada’s humble point of view at least.

Suddenly, she heard a car stopped in one of a street perpendicular to the one she was in. As a naturally curious person, she came closer to the vehicle. Soon she could hear male voices and when she passed the angle of the street she came from, Ada faced something she wasn’t expecting at all. There were men, all dressed differently but with one common point: they were all wearing clown masks. All of them. Except one, who clearly didn’t need to have one for he was wearing a thick make-up covering all of his face and making him a clown.

The Joker.

He was standing there, barking orders at his minions who were rushing around him to empty the truck they came out of to fill another one – with tainted windows – with big black bags. Shocked. Ada stayed still in the middle of the alley; she couldn’t believe her own eyes. What were the odds to be in his presence, in a city of nine million inhabitants? None. And here she was…

Suddenly, one of the men called his boss, pointing his finger at the young woman and the criminal turned around to look at her with an intensity that even the distance between them couldn’t diminish. Ada felt as prey in front of a hunting predator and she felt goose bumps all over her body. She wasn’t afraid, she thought, on the contrary. She felt … thrilled. She felt something similar to her first bungee jump, two years before, a gift from her parents to celebrate her twenty-third birthday. Right now, being the centre of attention of this man, it was like falling in the void at full speed, except this time, she was rushing to the ground without any safety net and she was certainly not going to survive.

When he understood that she wasn’t moving, the most famous criminal of Gotham walked the distance to Ada, certainly to intimidate her and soon he sauntered the few yards between them. The young woman didn’t move. Every other person would have run away immediately but she was well aware that there has always been something weird about her. It wasn’t pure absence of fear but a magnetic attraction to danger. And right now, was it possible to find someone more dangerous than the Joker himself?

When he stopped, he was standing close to her, so close that she could feel his chest going up and down against hers as he breathed. He definitely has never heard of personal space. Without a care in the world, Ada lifted her head to meet his eyes and it took her breath away. On tv or in pictures, she always thought his eyes were jet-black, as dark as a moonless night. They conveyed a feeling of bad omen. In reality, it wouldn’t have been fair to describe them in such a simplistic manner. His irises were of a dark mahogany, crossed by golden strands almost invisible at first sight. Ada noticed how his pupils were dilated and she got lost in their darkness, wandering if her pupils reflected the one of the man staring at her, then she moved her eyes to the make-up face and as she did so she couldn’t not look at the scars giving him a constant smile.

She acted before she thinking: she raised a hand towards them but, before she could reach them, an iron grip got her fore-arm, so hard it hurt. She stopped and plunged back in the eyes of the king of Gotham. She read a sort of perplexity mixed with frustration and anger. She didn’t know what he read back on her face but his hand relaxed around her arm after a while, just enough so she could carry on her gesture. She lightly touched the jagged edges of cicatricial tissue that cornered his mouth with her thumb, then she carefully stroke his cheek with her fingertips. He still hadn’t freed her arm as if he was scared that she could hit him. No. Not scared. As if he was expecting it. His expression was even more confused, uncertain of how to act with her. She also had no idea.

— Let the girl go, Joker and put yourself on the ground. Hands on your head! Now! A policeman shout without warning on Ada’s right, making her jump and look away from the man loosely keeping her captive. He was pointing his gun at them.

Soon enough, she was looking back in the eyes of the criminal facing her, to realise he never stopped staring at her. As time went by, the policeman was losing patience and was more and more agitated but the Joker seemed unshakeable, as if he couldn’t feel the tension that was almost killing Ada. But once again, she wasn’t scared. To say the least not as she should have been. The man aiming at them was obviously a nervous wreck. He exclaimed:

— I said! On the ground! Hands on-

The man facing Ada shot him before he could finish his sentence, without even looking at him. He seemed as fascinated by the young woman as she was by him. She knew he had hit his target when she heard the policemen let out a cry of pain as he fell to the ground. It was surreal. It seemed like a waking dream or an out-of-body experience for the phD student. She had a quick thought for the man hit by the bullet wondering if he was in a grave condition and if he had a family that would miss him if he were to die here and now. But it stayed like that: a quick thought. The young woman partially opened her mouth to ask -What? Leading the Joker’s attention to her lips. It seemed to take him out of the spell that has been casted on him until now. Without a word, he turned around taking Ada with him – as he was still holding her arm – and the latter accepted to follow the movement. Or rather, she didn’t think of fighting against it.

— Hey boss! What are you doing with this lil’ pussycat? One of the bad guys asked before saying something that scared Ada: Is it a toy for us to play with?

The Joker answered by pointing his gun to middle of the man’s forehead, he glared at him with eyes that she saw really dark this time.

— Any other stupid questions? The Joker demanded and Ada shivered at the sound of his husky voice, he certainly felt it through their lengthen contact because he briefly looked askance at her.  
— No boss, the wannabe rapist answered, a pure expression of terror on his face.

Gotham most odious villain aimed at him for a few seconds before finally putting his weapon down and addressing Ada in these words:

— Ladies first.

Then, he made a grandiloquent gesture toward the van, inviting her to get in rather than forcing her to do so. Even if the frontier between the two terms seemed quite blurry to her in this very situation. She missed the touch of his hand on her when he released her. He knew she wouldn’t go far if she tried to escape. Even if she hasn’t thought of this possibility. Instead, without any hesitation the orphan got in the van, quickly followed by the king of Gotham and two of his men who closed the sliding door behind them. She came to realise that she was way too calm for someone who’s just been kidnapped; but once again, the question is: did she was being kidnapped or did she accept to come with Joker and his minions willingly?

Really, she thought, there’s something wrong with me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tadaaa! Here is the first appearance of the Joker, what did you think? ;) I might be considering writing J's POV at some point, but I'm not sure if I would live up to the complexity of the character ... Food for thought, I guess.
> 
> Do not hesitate to leave me comments and kudos, they feed me!
> 
> XOXO  
> Alie - ChoiceorDestiny


End file.
